Congratulations to Maria Cancian (public affairs; social work), J. Michael Collins (public affairs; human ecology), Katherine Curtis (community and environmental sociology), and Jenny Higgins (gender and women’s studies; obstetrics and gynecology) who recently received major research awards from UW–Madison.
Cancian was honored with the Kellett Mid-Career Award, which recognizes and supports research conducted by faculty members who are seven to twenty years past their first promotion to tenure. Cancian’s research considers the relationship between public policies and changes in marriage, fertility, employment, and family well-being. Her work on incarceration, child welfare, and child support systems has shaped national policy discussions, and she served in the Department of Health & Human Services during the Obama administration. In January, Cancian was also named the 2018 John Kenneth Galbraith Fellow by the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Collins and Higgins were awarded Romnes Faculty Fellowships, which are supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and recognizes exceptional faculty up to six years past their first promotion to a tenured position. Collins studies consumer decision making in the financial marketplace, including the role of public policy in influencing credit, savings, and investment choices. He is the Fetzer Family Chair in Consumer and Personal Finance in the School of Human Ecology. Higgins conducts mixed-methods research on sexuality, gender, and reproductive health in order to improve public health outcomes—including reducing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections—and sexual well-being.
Curtis received the Vilas Associates award recognizing new and on-going research of the highest quality and significance. Curtis is an associate professor of community and environmental sociology. Her current research projects focus on the spatial and temporal dimensions of the relationship between industry and poverty, and spatial differentiation in migration responses to environmental events. Curtis is the director of the Applied Population Lab at UW–Madison and has been central to CDE’s working group on spatial and environmental demography.